Rankin Inlet has taken delivery of a new community freezer with a price tag of just under $1.3 million.
Hamlet senior administration officer Darren Flynn said the old community freezer is in pretty bad shape and people have been looking to replace it for a number of years.
This past year, he said the municipality managed to take advantage of some available funding and signed a contribution agreement with the Department of Economic Development and Transportation.
“We did a multi-year agreement because it was more than they had in funds. So we were able to acquire it last year, get the planning done on it and get the contract awarded for its manufacture,” said Flynn.
“It arrived in the hamlet on a ship near the end of September. It was initially supposed to arrive earlier in the summer, but there were some supply-train issues with the manufacturer, which delayed its arrival.
“The crew arrived here on Oct. 2 to start assembling it and it was completed two weeks ago. We're just waiting now for a line crew to be in town to hook it up and then we'll go through it to make sure everything works fine.
“We're still waiting on new shelving, which will come in over the winter. It should be operational some in 2025.”
Flynn said the freezer is 40 feet by 41 feet with a little more than 1,400 square feet of storage.
He said the unit is actually three modules, while most of the freezers in other communities in the region are two-module units.
“We have a large freezer and then we have a smaller freezer off to the side. That will allow for better sorting. You'll be able to have maktaaq, seal and whatnot in one container and have caribou and whatnot in the other one.
“It's considerably larger than the old one and definitely a good upgrade,
“It's a municipal asset owned by the municipality. We've had previous discussions with the Kangiqliniq Hunters and Trappers Organization and we'll be hammering out an operating agreement with them, making sure they have adequate funding to be able to operate it and run it as part of their program in support of the hunters in the community.”
